International Plastic Bronchitis Registry

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The purpose of the international plastic bronchitis registry is to understand the natural course and long term health outcomes of subjects diagnosed with plastic bronchitis due to different types of casts. This provides essential data for identifying best practices and treatments. The secondary aim is to understand the structure of casts and mechanism of their formation.

Condition or disease

Plastic Bronchitis

Detailed Description:

Plastic bronchitis (PB) patients have casts removed during bronchoscopy as part of their routine care or that they are able to expectorate (cough out) casts naturally. The casts are normally discarded. Patients that agree to participate in the registry ship the airway casts and medical history to Dr. Bruce Rubin's Research Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond Virginia, USA.

The lab evaluates the biopolymer composition and structure of the airway casts by immunohistochemistry in order to identify microscopic differences between expectorated casts of subjects with plastic bronchitis and sputum from other populations (cystic fibrosis,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , and normal airways). The lab also conducts in vitro evaluation of clearability, adhesivity, cohesivity, and inflammatory mediator concentrations to better understand the nature of the disease.

The purpose of the intrnational plastic bronchitis registry is to understand the natural course and long term health outcomes of patients diagnosed with plastic bronchitis. This provides essential data for identifying possible causes of this disease and potential treatments.

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Ages Eligible for Study:

Child, Adult, Senior

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

No

Sampling Method:

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

The study is open to patients around the world suffering from Plastic bronchitis